Dutch Fork takes out West Ashley, heads to West Florence

A cold streak soured the Dutch Fork sideline early Friday night.

When West Ashley’s Amari Jenkins rumbled into the end zone from 14 yards out after a blocked punt, the Silver Foxes were behind on the scoreboard for the first time this season.

“You could see them bear down when we got behind,” Dutch Fork coach Tom Knotts said about his team. “We played well for about three or four series.”

It took Dutch Fork, ranked 18th nationally in the USA Today Super 25 poll this week, all of 59 seconds to overcome the deficit and begin pouring it on in a 63-20 victory over the Wildcats.

After Jenkins’ score at the 9:47 mark of the first quarter, Jalin Hyatt took in a 39 yard touchdown pass from Ty Olenchuk to even the score.

The Silver Foxes finished the quarter with a 21-14 lead, and marched on in the 5A playoffs.

Dutch Fork (10-0) travels to West Florence in the third round Friday night. West Florence knocked out Fort Dorchester 27-20 Friday night.

“They gave us all we wanted last year, and they had a bunch of juniors,” Knotts said. “To beat Fort Dorchester, they’ve gotta be doing something right.”

Against West Ashley (6-6), the Silver Foxes piled up 563 yards of offense on 55 snaps. Olenchuk threw for 287 yards in the first half and finished the night 19-for-29 for 356 yards and four TDs.

Gage Zirke was Olenchuk’s target of choice, catching 9 passes for 177 yards.

Ron Hoff had 6 catches for 93 yards and three touchdowns. Hyatt had three catches for 65 yards and a TD.

Hoff was the leading rusher for Dutch Fork with 82 yards and a score on eight carries.

Two out of three West Ashley scores came down to Jenkins — his touchdown on a blocked punt and a 90-yard kickoff return.

“That gave them a little bit more life, and we haven’t been doing that all year,” Knotts said. “We feel like we practiced hard in the kicking game, I don’t know why it let us down, but we’ve got some playmakers and we’re pretty competitive, you saw how we bowed our backs when we got down, I was pretty proud of that.”

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. Maybe next week? Junior Receiver Jalin Hyatt needed 82 yards to go over 1,000 yards for the season going into the game. He had three catches for 65 yards. Hyatt’s teammate Gage Zirke already has 1,000 yards on the season.

2. In a small way in evening the score at 7, and in absorbing two special-teams touchdowns without missing a beat, Dutch Fork showed it could bounce back when shown an obstacle.

3. The Dutch Fork defense can light it up, but the Silver Foxes defense can too. They gave up 38 yards in the first half, all of it on the ground, and 170 total yards on the evening.

HOW THEY SCORED

1st Quarter

W – Amari Jenkins 14 blocked punt return (Bear Huggins kick) 9:47

D – Jalin Hyatt 39 pass from Ty Olenchuk (Graham Newboult kick) 8:45

D – Olenchuk 6 run (Newboult kick) 5:49

D – Ron Hoff 37 pass from Olenchuk (Newboult kick) 2:20

W – Jenkins 90 kickoff return (Huggins kick) 2:07

2nd Quarter

D – Olenchuk 6 run (Newboult kick) 10:58

D – Hoff 8 pass from Olenchuk (Newboult kick) 8:24

3rd Quarter

D – Hoff 29 run (Newboult kick) 10:22

D – Hoff 24 pass from Olenchuk (Newboult kick) 7:01

W – Jaelin Pinckney 1 pass from Connor black (kick failed) 3:08

4th Quarter

D – Jonathan Hall 11 run (Newboult kick) 11:08

D – Graeson Underwood 3 run (Newboult kick) 5:43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: WA – Kenyatta Jenkins 10-34, Yaphett Bienvenu 6-18, Dwaylyn Deleston 8- 66, Dominique Kershaw 2-1. DF – Ron Hoff 8-82, Ty Olenchuk 5-25, Jonathan Hall 9- 56, Graeson Underwood 4-44.

Passing: WA – Connor Black 10-3-1-3, Kenyatta Jenkins 8-4-0-7 Bear Huggins 1-0-1-0. DF – Ty Olenchuk 19-29-0-356.

Receiving: WA – Dominique Kershaw 6-55, Jaelin Pinckney 1-1, Dwalynn Deleston 1-(- 6). DF – Gage Zirke 9-177, Ron Hoff 6-93, Jalin Hyatt 3-65, Jordan Springs 1-21.